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[firebase_database, windows] Listener callbacks are delivered on a non-platform thread and crash the process

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#18,630 2 comments 0 reactions 0 assignees View on GitHub

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  • #18656 by @SelaseKay — closed without merging

Assessment

Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Newbie friendliness
52/100
Issue type
Bug
Clarity
Clearly specified
Activity status
Active
Tech stack
cpp, dart, firebase
Domain
databases, desktop-dev

Research direction

Start in windows/firebase_database_plugin.cpp, focusing on VL, the child listener, and OnCancelInternal. Run the repeated subscribe/unsubscribe reproduction on Windows and trace callback and listener lifetimes. Done means listener events reach EventSink on the platform thread and cancellation cannot free a listener while the SDK may still invoke it.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Description

blocked: flutter platform: windows plugin: database reproduced type: bug
Bug report

Which plugins are affected?
Realtime Database

Which platforms are affected?
Windows

Description

On Windows, firebase_database delivers Realtime Database listener callbacks straight from the
Firebase C++ SDK's callback thread into the Flutter EventSink. The engine reports the violation on
every event, and the process eventually dies.

[ERROR:flutter/shell/common/shell.cc(1183)] The 'plugins.flutter.io/firebase_database/query/322_...'
channel sent a message from native to Flutter on a non-platform thread. Platform channel messages
must be sent on the platform thread. Failure to do so may result in data loss or crashes, and must
be fixed in the plugin or application code creating that channel.

In windows/firebase_database_plugin.cpp (12.5.0), the value listener and the child listener both
call events_->Success(...) from inside the SDK callback, and there is no PostTask / task-runner
hop anywhere in the file:

class VL : public firebase::database::ValueListener {
  void OnValueChanged(const DataSnapshot& snapshot) override {
    ...
    events_->Success(EncodableValue(event));   // SDK callback thread
  }
  flutter::EventSink<flutter::EncodableValue>* events_;
};

Separately, OnCancelInternal runs on the platform thread and deletes the listener:

if (value_listener_) {
  query_.RemoveValueListener(value_listener_);
  delete value_listener_;      // races with an in-flight OnValueChanged
  value_listener_ = nullptr;
}

so cancelling a subscription while a listen response is still being delivered frees the listener out
from under the callback thread.

Steps to reproduce

  1. Windows desktop app with firebase_database.
  2. Subscribe and unsubscribe repeatedly so that some cancels land while a listen response is in
    flight (this is what screen transitions do in a long-lived session):
var i = 0;
Timer.periodic(const Duration(milliseconds: 40), (_) {
  i++;
  // vary the path so each listen creates a new query rather than joining an existing one
  final sub = FirebaseDatabase.instance.ref('some/path/${i % 64}').onValue.listen((_) {});
  Future<void>.delayed(Duration(milliseconds: i * 7 % 100), sub.cancel);
});
  1. The console fills with the non-platform thread error above, and the process dies (flutter run
    prints Lost connection to device.).

Expected behavior

Listener events are marshalled to the platform thread before touching the EventSink, and
cancelling a subscription does not free a listener that the SDK may still be calling into.

Actual behavior

Every event triggers the engine's non-platform-thread error, and the process terminates. Reproduced
in about 30 seconds, repeatably, on two builds.

Additional context

We hit this in production, in an app where several clients have to keep the same state in sync over
Realtime Database, so a listener stays attached for the whole session. After switching our Windows
Realtime Database usage from a third-party Dart implementation to firebase_database, crashes on
Windows increased. The same app versions on iOS showed no change.

Note this is not the same as the C++ SDK's own use-after-free
(firebase/firebase-cpp-sdk#1881, fixed in v13.11.0). We tested both:

firebase_core / bundled firebase-cpp-sdk firebase_database Result
4.10.0 / 13.5.0 12.4.2 crashes in ~30s
4.14.0 / 13.11.0 12.5.0 crashes in ~30s

Reverting our Windows Realtime Database usage to the third-party Dart implementation survived the
same loop for over 10 minutes with no thread-violation errors, so the remaining defect is in this
plugin's Windows implementation rather than in the C++ SDK.

Related, previously closed for lack of detail: #17800 (firebase_auth), #17801 (cloud_firestore).
Those report the same non-platform-thread violation on Windows in sibling plugins, so the fix may
need to be applied consistently.

Flutter doctor / versions

  • firebase_core 4.14.0, firebase_database 12.5.0
  • Windows Server 2025 x64
Dominant language
Dart
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